When I went to school, I was taught cursive in about third grade, but by
the time my sister was in third grade, she wasn't taught it at all
(we're three years apart). The argument has been made that because
everything has become digital, including documents which can just be
signed by typing in your name, why bother? I've heard of some people say
that it is important to teach cursive so we can read what important
historical documents say, like the Declaration of Independence, but it
seems that the solution for this is to just write it out in print for
those who can't read cursive.

But what do you think? Do you think cursive is becoming a thing of the
past, or should it still be taught in schools?

That is a good question. I was not taught cursive very much and neither
was my brother (two years ahead of me). So far, other than
concentrating on learning enough to have a signature, I have done OK
without it. I am only a high school senior, so we will see how it goes
in college.

I hate to see something like cursive writing go away, but I can see why
it is not taught much anymore. No one writes letters anymore, even
signatures are not necessarily required as much anymore. I don't know
about Michigan, but Ohio has common core standards and lots of
end-of-year testing that the teachers have to teach for, so spending
time learning cursive is not the best use of their time if they continue
to have to "teach to the test". Also, I have mentioned this
to my mom, and she said when she was in school, learning cursive writing
was labor intensive and frustrating for both the students who caught on
quickly and those who struggled with it.

I also was taught cursive in 3rd grade and can really see both sides
here. On one hand, it may be hard to accept how things are changing and
it seems unfortunate that kids are not taught a skill that was so basic
and important when I was younger. However, throughout my adult life,
(and I'm now 44) I have never needed to know cursive other than signing
my name, and even that--if you notice other people's signatures--are
hardly entirely cursive. I decided to teach my children on my own
cursive writing and got them some workbooks to practice at home, but
they mainly just practice their signature. I still use cursive if I'm
taking notes because I can write faster when writing in cursive.

I’m an artist at heart and there is something so beautiful about
cursive that I can help but say yes. Sure, it’s not practical,
BUT, if it lights an artistic fire in some little girl’s heart,
it’s worth it!